Meet Henry the lamb

We had an exquisite little visitor to the hotel today and can’t resist introducing you to him.

Meet Henry – our new four-legged lamb friend.

Henry has been adopted by Michelle Tokens, our Create Gallery and retail manager here at Bedruthan, after being abandoned by his mum. Michelle took Henry home to her cottage where she has been feeding him round the clock – not to mention changing his nappies – since she discovered him huddling under a muck heap on a field on the farm where she lives last Saturday night.

“I invited a friend to graze his sheep in the field where my miniature donkeys live,” says Michelle.

“One was a first-time mum who didn’t know what she was doing. She didn’t read the job description before taking on the job, and rejected Henry. We found him freezing cold and wet last Saturday huddling under a muck heap.”

Unable to resist, Michelle took Henry into her cottage, warmed him up in front of the fire, fed him some lamb’s milk and tried reintroducing him to his mum.

“She wasn’t mean to him. She just didn’t know what to do with him. An hour later, he was back under the muck heap, so now he lives in my cottage with me and my three cats and two dogs.”

Michelle says Henry, as she has christened him, is likely to grow up with a bit of a personality disorder, but that’s better than not surviving the night.

“He currently believes himself to be a cat. He would have gone for the chop and ended up in a meat stew, but now he will live out his days as a pet and companion to my miniature donkeys.”

How did Henry come by his name? Michelle’s farmer friend sprayed Henry’s white-as-snow fleece with an H as soon as he was born. Farmers label each of their sheep from A to Z, then spray any offspring with the same letter so they know which lamb belongs to which ewe.

Henry, says Michelle, is a very mellow fellow.

He does frisk about a bit, but mostly he’s all about cuddles and likes to ensure that there is always some part of him touching some part of mummy Michelle – be it a nose, a tail or a chin.

“He’s very friendly,” she says. “He’s also very inquisitive but most of all he likes a relaxing snuggle. He’ll jump on my lap when I’m on the sofa, along with the cats, and fall asleep on my chest with his nose nestled into my neck.

“He follows me from room to room. I hear a ‘baaaaa’ followed by tip tap tip tap across my wooden floor. I just try to carry on with my daily business and Henry is my shadow.”

We hope you’ve enjoyed meeting Henry as much as we did. We’ve always been a bit batty about animals here at Bedruthan and like to welcome all members of your family to the hotel as our guests, including dogs, rabbits and even sheep.